On September 11, the Mt. Vernon Marauders faced their county rivals the New Palestine Dragons. The Dragons have a regular season streak of 65 wins, which means no school has beat them in the regular season for several years. But on September 11, the Marauders changed all that by winning the game 35-22.

“We have been working very hard for the past year to play New Pal,” stated head football Coach Kirschner. “The players were focused and handled the pressure of the game very well. It was a great win for the players, the program and the community.”

The Marauders were able to secure the Boundary Rail. They spray painted it back to black since it has been in New Pal’s hands, painted red, since 2013 when the Marauders lost to them. 

“It was a great feeling, everything about it was great,” said Joel Ratliff, 12. “It was like all the right things had fallen into place and we had felt the result of a dialed in, mentally prepared, week of practice.” 

They also now hold the HHC traveling helmet trophy, which New Pal has had since winning 49 games in the HHC. 

Nick Howard, 12 , was thrilled to beat rival New Pal. He said, “To beat New Pal was honestly one of my favorite moments of high school. It was exhilarating and felt like a weight lifted off all of our shoulders as a team. It was remarkable to see the looks on our coach’s faces, and how the crowd was so into it all game. When the clock hit 0:00 on the scoreboard I had flashbacks of losing to them every year since 2012, and beating them while making history was the best feeling ever.” 

So far the Mt Vernon Marauders are undefeated. They are currently 7-0, with a Conference record of 5-0. They are ranked 9th in Indiana and 327th in the nation.